PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Davey Johnson wants no part of any questions right now about the battle for specific roster spots, especially the final spot in his starting rotation. The Nationals manager says it's too early to worry about that kind of stuff.

Well, we'll just have to worry for him, because the competition for the No. 5 starter's job is one of the biggest questions in this camp. Chien-Ming Wang made his first claim for the spot this afternoon when he tossed two strong innings in a minor-league intrasquad game.

Tonight, John Lannan gets a chance to open his case when he faces the Mets. All indications continue to suggest Lannan will be the most likely odd man out when camp closes (provided Wang is healthy and Ross Detwiler is moved to the bullpen) but Johnson gave something of a vote of confidence to the left-hander before tonight's game.

"He led our team in in wins last year," the manager said. "I like him. I think he's only going to get better."

If you're interested in watching tonight's game, MLB Network is scheduled to pick up the Mets' feed from SNY. Charlie and Dave will also have the call on 1500 AM and 1580 AM…

I (DaveyJ) asked him the other day in the seventh inning: 'Are you tired?' And he said: 'Do you see the girl with the red lips over there?' I mean, he's just got a lot of energy. I remember when I was 19, I never got tired. I can't remember when I was 19, but I get tired now." This sounds way too much like Abraham J. Simpson.

Yeah this is definitely a B lineup, but that's needed to see what these other guys can do.Just don't be shocked if they fall to 0-3 :-)I'm rooting for Lannan. I think he's underrated by some and personally I would favor him over Wang for the 5 spot.

@LoveDaNats & Sunderland, either Bernadina or Ankiel is likely to be an OD starter. Could see Morse-Werth-DeRosa, but it's certainly possible that Anklel or Bernie's out there instead….That said, point taken.

Man there must be some "joiners" here as some r complaining already about "our" team. Suck it boys. Have your fun, let the coaches coach, players play and fans ???? Maybe there are some parents hanging around to stir things up. ……and the fun begins!!

The game is definitely on right now on MLB network.Unfortunately, it is the Mets broadcast team.I've always found it a little weird listening to or watching the Nats from the opposing point of view.Not necessarily bad, just weird

Cwj – completely agree. The shame of it is that with his GB%, if he cut his BB/9 by 1, he probably is a #3 and all this talk about getting rid of him stops. As is, he is still a good #5, but he is beginning to get expensive for that.

It's pretty bush league that lannan always gets written off. like davey said, he led the team in wins last year and has been the only consistent pitcher over the last few years for the nationals.agreed, ztown. Then can you please explain how this great reliable pitcher wasn't able to maintain his status of ace of the club? A guy 15-20 years his senior became the **reliable** ace while he was sent to the minors in 2010? And in spite of his ERA which is misleading … he was statistically the worst pitcher 3 years running? ALL OF THE PITCHERS in the first four slots had better years than Lannan over the past. Two managed to do far better after Tommy Johns? The other two pitched well over 200 innings, one three years in a row. That should be Lannan given how everyone here extols him. He should be Mark Buehrle at this point. There should have been no reason for the Nats to pursue that left-handed soft-tosser not with the great John Lannan? Sheesh!

I just tweeted this, Stammen looks like he added 10 pounds to his lower body from his gluteus maximus to his quads (not that I'm checking the dude's a$$ out)Wondering if he spent a lot of time in the off-season doing squats and leg presses. Whatever he did I wish Ross Detwiler had joined him.

And isn't a bigger lower half good for pitchers since most of their power is generated in the legs? (ie, like Nolan Ryan)..Also.. he needs to show Ross those moves, Ross looks like a twig in comparison (and he still needs too EAT)

I'm DVRing the game and will watch it later, but just based on the 2 innings I saw and his final numbers for the day, Lannan was pretty solid.First pitcher to make it fully through 3 innings.And 43 pitches in 3 innings is pretty efficient.

What a game for Harper…the second hit was amazing..so fast, and with his size? a beast..and i thought the HBP was retaliation…right in the middle of his upper back…batter jogged down to first without a look toward mound and game proceeded with no further incident…very professional all arounlannan labors every inning..a real bullpen killer…and the D must fall asleep behind him

Checking in — so Lannan did his Lannan-like thing, Stammen pitched, who else? Sounds like Harper is showing off the hustle and looking better than the veteran re-treads. Our offense looking any better in person?

I am not even close to regular season form. I keep seeing and hearing the ball off the bat and expect it to leave the park – and then it's a bloop to shortstop. Maybe it's the grapefruit league cameras?

And by the way, wearing #11 obviously had an amazing effect on Walters' play on Batista's smash grounder that deflected off the mound and took a high hop. He snagged it on a full layout dive, got up and fired a bullet to first. Maybe we could go with 11 and 11a?

MicheleS – thanks – will check the stats. It's always nice to hear the opinions of those with eyeballs on the game, though. Especially the opinions and impressions of NI posters 😉 I hate missing games!

Walters flashes some nice reflexes at short in the 8th. One out, no on one, Baxter hit a sharp 3-hopper over the bag at second. Walters had dived for it already, but the ball took a hop and came up–a lot, about 18 inches higher than he seemed to be expecting, but flicked up for it while already horizontal, and came up with plenty of time for the throw. So with that behind him, Joaquin goes 1-2-3 in the 8th, with Miguel Batista back out for the 9th.Walters struck out swinging to lead off. Eury Perez doubled down the line to left, and looked like he was thinking 3 if the left fielder hadn't come up clear and attentive.

So, who were the Mets playing this evening? I caught the last couple of innings of the Mets game and didn't recognize any of the names on either team. I'm guessing it was the Reds given the uniforms. Anyone know?

(Disclaimer: I've not yet read the comment thread, so pardon me if any of this has already been cussed and discussed.)Nats win! Maybe it won't be so cranky around here for a day or two. Woohoo! Missed the late innings in real time, so I just finished watching the recording so I could see how the Nats scored the third run. Then I got caught up in the reminiscing about Gary Carter. Nice tribute to him by his former teammates, I thought. In other news, maybe the Mets could go over to their sideline guy a little less frequently? I'd rather see the game than him yakking it up with somebody.

That was kinda funny. I was half expecting him to say "For you Little Leaguers watching at home, when you're telling stories to a sideline on-air reporter, remember to use idioms the non-players in the audience will understand."

Got to see R. Martin pitch a scoreless inning. Not thrilled with the walks but he did a nice job with a strike out to end the inning.Realize its a long shot but I need a little something to spice up spring training since our roster is pretty well set. Always nice to get that first win and Harper has done nothing but impress so far.Go Nats!!

Cwj wrote: "I've always found it a little weird listening to or watching the Nats from the opposing point of view."You get used to it when you live outside the immediate DC area; I'm a Floridian now who usually listens to the Nats games on XM and they use the home team's broadcast.